maruti Swift Dzire

It was pretty obvious wasn't it? With the new Swift hatch out last year and doing so well, it was only a matter of time before the DZire gets an update as well. We got our hands on the new DZire, which seems a bit more compact than its predecessor, but will nonetheless command the infamous six-month waiting period. Not to leak out the verdict right here... oh wait, you can already see the score on top. Ah well, the new DZire is a huge jump over the earlier version.

Looks-wise, the shorter boot looks more coherent than the previous Dzire. Besides the new Swift headlamps, the Kizashi-inspired tail lamps give it a bit of a sporty look. The front gets a different grille and bumper from the hatch.

The interiors are a big jump up. The cabin is similar to the Swift but you get a brilliant combination of black and beige on the upper and lower parts of the dashboard respectively, which gives the cabin an airy and premium feel. Faux wooden inserts replace the chrome from the Swift hatchback. Rear seat occupants get 20mm of extra legroom thanks to the front seatbacks being scooped out, which is always great for taller passengers. The talking point of course is the boot, which at a little over 300 litres isn’t very huge, especially by sedan standards (the i20 has a 395-litre boot). It can accommodate medium-sized everyday luggage but for that airport pick-up you might want to hire the old DZire from the neighbourhood taxi service.

There is also a new variant on sale — a four-speed automatic gearbox, which will be sold in VXi guise only. I found this gearbox slow to shift, both up and down. The rest of the line-up remains the same with LXi, VXi and ZXi versions in manual transmission.

Maruti has retained the engines from the Swift, which makes the performance very perky in spite of the extra size. Both the petrol and diesel engines respond well to throttle inputs and have enough grunt even with all passengers on board. The fact that it doesn’t weigh much more than the Swift also means performance isn’t negated over the hatchback.

Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but we expect it to be around Rs 30,000 less than the current DZire thanks to the government's excise cuts to cars under 4-metres in length. Another winner for sure from the house of Maruti then? I would think so.This REVIEW has taken from BBC topgear.